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Emily Henderson's avatar

Tomatoes! Get one of those five gallon black plastic pots, put some gravel in the bottom and fill it with some good (non-organic) garden soil. Then pick out a yummy looking tomato plant from the garden center (I like Brandywine, Cherokee purple, and any yellow cherry) Seriously they are the easiest thing to grow!!

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Sri Juneja's avatar

I do love me a good tomato! Although, I'm ashamed to admit it, the hardiest tomato variety I was able to find still succumbed to my evil black thumb 😵‍💫

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neena maiya's avatar

I must share these children's books with parents in GY. 😊

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Sri Juneja's avatar

Please do! Thank you for support 🙏

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Alexis Davis's avatar

Guri & Gura looks so cute and reminds me jn title of Chirri & Chirra, also out of Japan and sooooooo delightful!

I believe in you and finding your plant mate!! Also, mint is not so easy, it comes along when it wants to more than when you want it to in my experience but I am a haphazard gardener at best!

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Sri Juneja's avatar

I only know a handful of Japanese children’s books and I’ve enjoyed them so much I’m eager to learn more. I’ll look up Chirri and Chirra, thanks for the rec!

And thank you for reassuring me that mint in fact is a LIE 😂

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Alycia's avatar

I just learned about Guri and Gura from the book Everything You Are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, which is probably the best book I will read all year. Fun to see them again and I will see if the library has the books.

I really love pulling weeds, so gardening is a fun way to get weeds to pull. Try growing some kale. Last year my garden plot partner and I just sprinkled seeds to see what came up and we still have edible dinosaur kale thriving. Somehow kale tastes better when you grow it yourself!

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Sri Juneja's avatar

I’m going to check out the Michiko Aoyama book—thanks for the recommendation!

I’ve never been a huge fan of kale but now that you’ve told me it tastes better when you’ve grown it yourself… 🤔. And if I do end up killing it—well it was kale 😂

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Robin LaVoie's avatar

I share your black thumb — and my mother is a certified Master Gardener! Neither of us understand how the apple rolled so far from that tree, ha! My basil plants are embarrassing. But, in recent years I have had success with pepper plants, they love my front patio and have withstood my ineptitude to gift us some lovely spicy jalapeños! Oh and some geraniums I got from a neighbor (another real gardener), and they have survived over a few seasons. I guess I’ll say keep trying, you’ve just got to find the plants that like you :)

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Sri Juneja's avatar

Thank you Robin I feel slightly less bad now at my horrible record 🤣🤣🤣 I love the phrase to keep trying to find my plant-mate. You’ve reignited my hope. ❤️

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Sarah Miller's avatar

So many titles that are new to me here -- YAY!

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Sri Juneja's avatar

Oh yay! Glad you found some new reads, Sarah!

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Caroline's avatar

SRI! I love that you return to the garden no matter what! I was just speaking to someone yesterday about the term “winning” and how it can become anything. Winning can be about joy and not conventional success. I am happy to report that I’ve successfully kept a plant alive for a full year — the longest of anything except for Delilah 🤍

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Sri Juneja's avatar

Thanks, Caroline! Yes, success is what we make of it! You’ll have to give me your pointers for keeping plants alive 😅

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Caroline's avatar

I fear it’s a one hit wonder…my orchid is looking ragged

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Sri Juneja's avatar

Thanks to @Kuleigh, I discovered there’s a plant clinic subreddit that you can consult when plants are looking ill! It’s r/PlantClinic!

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Kuleigh Baker's avatar

Love all these spring recs! Believe it or not our highs have been in the mid to high 70s this week. I’m not ready!!! Do you have a sunny windowsill you can try to grow your basil? My other #1 tip for black thumbs is to get a small Aerogarden! It’s practically fool proof.

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Sri Juneja's avatar

I’m going to look up Aerogarden! Thanks for the rec! This WILL be the year!

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